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The Conversion of Sidney Rigdon to Mormonism

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The Conversion of Sidney Rigdon to Mormonism THE CONVERSION OF SIDNEY RIGDON TO MORMONISM F. Mark McKiernan F. Mark McKiernan teaches in the History Department at Idaho State Univer- sity. The following article is part of a larger study on Sidney Rigdon soon to be published by the University of Utah Press in its Biography of Mormon Leaders series: A VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS: SIDNEY RIGDON, RELIGIOUS REFORMER. This article is printed here with the permission of the University of Utah Press. Late in October 1830, four tired Mormon missionaries reached the vil- lage of Mentor, Ohio. Their leader, Parley P. Pratt, had persuaded them to walk two hundred miles out of. their way to bring the message of the Book of Mormon to his friend, Sidney Rigdon. It was to be a most opportune meeting for both Rigdon and the representatives of the infant Mormon move- ment. The Book of Mormon gave Rigdon answers to questions which he had been asking for years. The Mormon movement was to him the end of his quest for the fullness of the gospel as Jesus had taught it in New Testament times. Mormonism found in Rigdon a mighty spokesman and dedicated leader. Rigdon was one of the best known and respected revivalists in the West- ern Reserve. He had been an important leader among the Mahoning Bap- tist Association and then the Disciples of Christ. However, in the spring of 1830 Rigdon had separated himself and his Mentor congregation from the Campbellite fellowship. When the Mormon missionaries visited him, Rigdon was desperately searching for a religious organization which contained the fullness of the New Testament gospel. Pratt and his companions brought to Rigdon and his congregation the claims of a latter-day prophet, a new 721 DIALOGUE: A Journal of Mormon Thought religion, and a new Scripture. "They professed to be special messengers of the Living God, sent to preach the Gospel in its purity, as it was anciently preached by the Apostles."1 This claim greatly excited Rigdon, as he had constantly tried and failed to establish the "ancient order of things" in Alexander Campbell's religious movement. Rigdon was nevertheless very skeptical of Mormonism because "they had with them a new revelation, which they said had been translated from certain gold plates that had been de- posted in a hill" (Corrill, p. 7). Pratt offered to debate the matter, but Rig- don refused; he preferred to learn about Joseph Smith, who claimed to be a prophet, and to read the Book of Mormon. He believed that if this re- ligious body really contained the New Testament gospel in its purity he would know it through inspiration. Rigdon fervently hoped that this new movement would give the solution to his search for religious truth. Rigdon's consuming passion for the truth and his pursuit of knowledge began when he was a boy on his father's farm near St. Clair Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Sidney's brother, Loammi, was unable to earn a living by farming because some undescribed illness made him unfit to work in the fields. "It was the rule in the country, that when a boy was too feeble to work on a farm they would send him to school to give him an education." Loammi's parents sent him to Transylvania Medical School at Lexington, Kentucky. William Rigdon, Sidney's father, believed that he could afford higher education for one of his sons if compelled by necessity, but not for more than one. "Sidney Rigdon wanted to go to school and pleaded with his father and mother to let him go with his brother . , but they would not consent to let him go, saying to him, he was able to work on the farm."2 Sidney Rigdon had learned to read at a log schoolhouse near his home. A rudimentary education was generally considered sufficient; as late as 1816 fewer than one quarter of the school-age children in the neighboring area of Pittsburgh were receiving any formal education.3 When he was not allowed to accompany his brother to medical school, Sidney rebelled against his father's authority. He told his parents that "he would have as good an education as his brother got and they could not prevent it" (Rigdon, p. 3). He read all the books he could borrow from his neighbors. His particular interests were his- tory and the Bible and these two sources of information became the under- girdings of his intellectual life. William Rigdon, a stern Baptist farmer who had no tolerance for idle- ness, believed that a young man with a sound body should not waste time 'John Corrill, Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints (Commonly Called Mormons) Including an Account of Their Doctrine and Discipline with the Reasons of the Author for Leaving the Church (St. Louis, 1839), p. 7. Hereafter cited as Corrill. 2John W. Rigdon, "Lecture on Early Mormon Church," delivered at Salt Lake City in 1906 (holograph manuscript on deposit at the Washington State Historical Society Library). Hereafter cited as Rigdon. 3Richard C. Wade, The Urban Frontier: The Rise of Western Cities, 1770-1830 (Cam- bridge, 1959), p. 136. McKIERNAN: Conversion of Sidney Rigdon j 73 reading books. He would not allow Sidney a candle by which to read at night, so the boy gathered hickory bark, which was plentiful around the farm. "He used to get it [the bark] and at night throw it on the old fire- place and then lay with his face headed towards the fire and read history till near morning unless his parents got up and drove him to bed before that time." History and the Bible became one for Sidney Rigdon. The Bible told the history of a so-called "chosen people," and Rigdon interpreted the his- tory of the world since New Testament times in terms of biblical prophecy. He did not share the interests of the other farm youths in his neighborhood. "He was never known to play with the boys; reading books was the greatest pleasure he could get" (Rigdon, p. 3). In 1817 Rigdon professed to have had a conversion experience. His pastor, the Reverend David Phillips of the Peter Creek Church, encouraged him to became a Baptist minister. After his father died in 1819, Sidney sup- ported his mother on the family farm. During this time he continued to read constantly. He taught himself English grammar, which made his lan- guage very precise. At the age of twenty-six, Sidney set out to find a new life for himself, and his mother went to live with her daughter, Lacy Boyer. Rigdon's knowledge of the Bible and history and his excellent command of English greatly aided his career when he chose to become a minister of the gospel. He spent the winter of 1818-19 with the Reverend Andrew Clark of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Rigdon read the Bible with Clark and received a license to preach to a Baptist congregation. Sidney Rigdon soon acquired a reputation as a powerful preacher and an effective minister. He was "an orator of no inconsiderable abilities," ac- cording to a contemporary, and "his personal influence with an audience was very great." He was of "full medium height, rotund of form, or coun- tenance, while speaking, open and winning, with a little cast of melancholy." His actions were graceful, "his language copious, fluent in utterance, with articulation clear and musical."4 He was five feet, nine and a half inches in height and weighed around 215 pounds. His hair and beard framed a fine- featured face which mirrored his emotions. His countenance was both hand- some and striking. His personal manner and friendliness won him many lasting friendships. He loved to meet the members of a congregation, shake their hands, and tell them his personal testimony. He was an excellent con- versationalist and took a genuine interest in the lives of the people he met. He believed it was his mission to urge all to repent and accept the gospel which he preached. Rigdon looked, acted, and sounded like a religious leader. In May 1819, Sidney Rigdon left the Reverend Andrew Clark's home in order to work with Adamson Bentley, the popular Baptist minister of War- ren, Ohio, about fourteen miles northwest of Youngstown. Through Bentley he met Miss Phebe Brooks, Mrs. Bentley's sister, and on June 12, 1820, Rigdon 4Amos S. Hayden, Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio: With Biographic Sketches of the Principal Agents in Their Religious Movement (Cincinnati, 1876), pp. 103-04. Hereafter cited as Hayden. 74/DIALOGUE: A Journal of Mormon Thought and Miss Brooks were married. Adamson Bentley was one of the founders of the Mahoning Baptist Association. Baptists on the frontier often organ- ized several congregations into an association in order to protect their group against heresy, to devise better ways to spread the gospel, and to encourage fellowship among the ministers. Both Bentley and Rigdon were active in the Mahoning Association; Rigdon enjoyed a reputation as a great orator among his fellow ministers, and Bentley was elected three times as modera- tor, the highest office of the Association.5 In the spring of 1821 Rigdon and Bentley read a pamphlet by Alexander Campbell and decided to question him about his beliefs. For almost a decade after that time the careers of Rigdon and Bentley were to be linked with Alexander Campbell. Rigdon and Bentley visited Campbell at his home, where they discussed the Bible. Campbell explained that with the aid of his father and their followers he was trying to establish the so-called "ancient order of things," or the restoration of Christ's church as it was in New Testa- ment times.
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